Storm of the Century Read online

  He's wearing butcher's whites right now and pushing a shopping cart filled with wrapped cuts of meat. Three WOMEN and one MAN converge on him almost at once. The MAN, dressed in a red sport coat and black shirt with turned-around collar, is first to reach him.

  REV. BOB RIGGINS

  Don't forget the bean supper next Wednesday-week, Michael I'm going to need every deacon I can lay my hands on.

  MIKE I'll be there ... if we get through the next three days, that is.

  REV. BOB RIGGINS I'm sure we will; God takes care of his own.

  Off he goes. Behind him is a cute little muffin named JILL ROBICHAUX, and she apparently has less trust in God. She starts pawing over the packages and reading the labels before MIKE can even begin to distribute them.

  JILL

  Are there pork chops, Michael? I thought for sure you'd still have pork chops.

  He gives her a wrapped package. JILL looks at it, then puts it in her heaped-up shopping cart.

  The other two women, CARLA BRIGHT and LINDA ST. PIERRE, are already going through the other wrapped cuts. CARLA looks at something, almost takes it, then drops it back into one of the trays of the meat-display cabinet.

  19

  CARLA

  Ground chuck's too dear! Don't you have plain old hamburger, Michael Anderson?

  MIKE Right-

  She snatches the package he's holding out before he can finish.

  MIKE (continues) here.

  More folks now, picking the stuff over as fast as he can get it out of his cart. MIKE bears this for a moment, then decides to put on his constable's hat. Or try.

  MIKE

  Folks, listen. It's a storm, that's all. We've gotten through plenty before this, and we'll get through plenty after. Calm down and stop acting like mainlanders!

  That gets them a little. They stand back, and MIKE begins distributing the meat again.

  LINDA

  Don't be smart, Michael Anderson.

  She says it the way islanders do "sma'aat." And when CARLA says "dear," it comes out "deah."

  MIKE (smiles) No, Mrs. St. Pierre. I won't be smart.

  Behind him, ALTON "HATCH" HATCHER comes out of the cold room pushing a second cart of wrapped meat. HATCH is about thirty, portly and pleasant. He's MIKE'S second-in-command at the market, and in the constabulary, as well. He is also wearing butcher's whites, and a white hard hat for good measure. Printed on the hard hat is "A. HATCHER."

  CAT (over the market loudspeaker) Mike! Hey, Mike! Got a phone call!

  16 INTERIOR: THE COUNTER, WITH KATRINA "CAT" WITHERS.

  She's about nineteen, very pretty, and handling one of the cash registers. She ignores the line of customers and holds the PA microphone in one hand. In the other is the receiver of the telephone 20

  hanging on the wall by the CB radio.

  CAT

  It's your wife. She says she's got a little problem down to the day care.

  17 INTERIOR: RESUME MIKE, HATCH, SHOPPERS AT MEAT CABINET.

  The customers are interested and diverted. Life on the island is like a soap opera where you know all the characters.

  MIKE She hot under the collar?

  18 INTERIOR: RESUME COUNTER, WITH CAT.

  CAT

  How do I know where she's hot? She's your wife.

  Smiles and chuckles from the CUSTOMERS. In island parlance, that was "a good 'un." A man of about forty grins at MIKE.

  KIRK FREEMAN You better go see about that, Mike.

  19 INTERIOR: RESUME MIKE AND HATCH AT MEAT CABINET.

  MIKE Can you take over here a bit?

  HATCH Can I borrow your whip and chair?

  MIKE laughs, knocks on the top of HATCH'S hard hat, and hurries on down front to see what his wife wants.

  20 INTERIOR: AT THE COUNTER.

  MIKE arrives and takes the phone from CAT. He speaks to his wife, oblivious of the watching, interested audience.

  MIKE Hey, Moll, what's up?

  21

  MOLLY (phone voice) I've got a little problem here can you come?

  MIKE eyes his store, which is full of pre-storm shoppers.

  MIKE I've got a few little problems of my own, hon. What's yours?

  21 INTERIOR: PIPPA HATCHER, CLOSE-UP.

  PIPPA is a child of about three years old. Right now she fills the whole screen with her SCREAMING, TERRIFIED FACE. There are RED SMEARS AND BLOTCHES all over it. Maybe we at first take these for blood.

  THE CAMERA DRAWS BACK and we see the problem. PIPPA is halfway up a flight of stairs, and has poked her head between two of the posts supporting the banister. Now she can't get it back through. She's still holding on to a piece of bread and jam, though, and we see that what we first took for blood is actually strawberry preserves.

  Standing at the foot of the stairs below her, looking solemn, is a group of SEVEN SMALL

  CHILDREN, ranging in age from three to five. One of the four-year-olds is RALPH ANDERSON, son of MIKE and MOLLY. Although we may not notice it at once (right now we're more interested in PIPPA'S

  plight), RALPHIE has a birthmark on the bridge of his nose. It's not hugely disfiguring or anything, but it's there, like a tiny saddle.

  RALPHIE Pippa, can I have your bread, if you're not going to eat it?

  PIPPA

  (shrieks) NO-OOO-OO!

  She begins to yank backward, trying to free herself, still holding on to her snack. It's disappearing into her chubby little fist now, and she appears to be sweating strawberry jam.

  22 INTERIOR: THE HALLWAY AND STAIRWELL OF THE ANDERSON HOUSE.

  The phone is here, placed on a hallway table halfway between the stairs and the door. Using it is MOLLY ANDERSON, MIKE'S wife. She's about thirty, pretty, and right now vacillating between amusement and fright.

  MOLLY Pippa, don't do that, honey . . . just hold still . . .

  22

  MIKE (phone voice) Pippa? What about Pippa?

  23 INTERIOR: BEHIND THE MEAT COUNTER, FEATURING HATCH.

  His head snaps up in a hurry.

  LINDA ST. PIERRE Something about Pippa?

  HATCH starts around the counter.

  24 INTERIOR: RESUME HALLWAY, WITH MOLLY.

  MOLLY

  Be quiet! The last thing in the world I want is Alton Hatcher down on me.

  25 INTERIOR: RESUME MARKET.

  Steaming down Aisle 3, still wearing his hard hat, comes HATCH. All the smiling good humor has gone out of his face. He's completely intent, a father back to front and top to bottom.

  MIKE Too late, babe. What's up?

  26 INTERIOR: THE HALLWAY, WITH MOLLY.

  She closes her eyes and GROANS.

  MOLLY

  Pippa's got her head stuck in the stairs. It's not serious I don't think but I can't deal with a big storm and a crazed daddy all on the same day. If Hatch comes, you be with him.

  She hangs up the phone and heads back to the stairs.

  MOLLY Pippa . . . honey . . . don't pull that way. It'll hurt your ears.

  23

  27 INTERIOR: THE STORE COUNTER, WITH MIKE, HATCH, CUSTOMERS.

  MIKE looks at the phone, bemused, then hangs it up again. As he does, HATCH comes shouldering through the CUSTOMERS, looking worried.

  HATCH

  Pippa! What about Pippa?

  MIKE Got a little stuck-itis, I hear. Why don't we go see?

  28 EXTERIOR: MAIN STREET, IN FRONT OF THE STORE.

  There's slant parking here. The vehicle in the slot handiest to the store is a forest-green four-wheel drive with ISLAND SERVICES painted on the doors, and a police flasher-bar on the roof.

  MIKE and HATCH come out of the store and hurry down the steps. As they approach: HATCH How upset did she sound, Mike?

  MIKE Molly? Point five on a scale of one to ten. Don't worry.

  A gust of wind strikes them, rocking them back on their heels. They look toward the ocean. We can't see it, but we can hear the POUNDING WAVES.

  HATCH This is going to be one bad mother of a storm, is
n't it?

  MIKE doesn't answer. He doesn't have to. They get into the Island Services truck and drive off.

  29 EXTERIOR: THE MANNEQUIN ON THE STORE'S PORCH.

  There's another GUST OF WIND. The hanging lobster traps click together . . . and the beanie propeller on "ROBBIE BEALS'S" head slowly BEGINS TO TURN.

  30 INTERIOR: THE STAIRWELL OF THE ANDERSON HOUSE.

  24

  PIPPA is still stuck with her head through the posts, but MOLLY is sitting beside her on the stairs and has her calmed down quite a bit. The CHILDREN still cluster around, watching her. MOLLY

  strokes

  PIPPA'S hair with one hand. In her other, MOLLY is holding PIPPA'S bread and jam.

  MOLLY

  You're okay, Pippa. Mike and your daddy will be here in another minute. Mike will get you out.

  PIPPA

  How can he?

  MOLLY I don't know. He's just magic that way.

  PIPPA I'm hungry.

  MOLLY gets her arm through the bars and maneuvers the bread to PIPPA'S mouth. PIPPA eats.

  The other KIDS watch this with fascination. One, a boy of five, is JILL ROBICHAUX'S son.

  HARRY ROBICHAUX

  Can I feed her, Missus Anderson? I fed a monkey once, at the Bangor Fair.

  The other kids laugh. PIPPA is not amused.

  PIPPA I'm not a monkey, Harry! I'm a child, not a monkey!

  DON SEALS

  Look, you guys, I'm a monkey!

  He starts leaping around at the foot of the stairs, scratching under his armpits and being foolish as only a four-year-old can be. At once, the others start imitating him.

  PIPPA I am not a monkey!

  And begins to cry. MOLLY strokes her hair, but can't talk her out of this one. Getting your head 25

  stuck between the bars is bad; being called a monkey is even worse.

  MOLLY

  You kids, stop that! Stop it right now! It's not nice, and it's making Pippa sad!

  Most of them stop, but DON BEALS, a little booger of the purest ray serene, goes on prancing and scratching.

  MOLLY Don, you stop. It's mean.

  RALPHIE Momma says it's mean.

  He tries to grab hold of DON. DON shakes him off.

  DON BEALS I'm bein' a monkey!

  DON does the monkey thing twice as hard, just to spite RALPHIE . . . and RALPHIE'S mother, of course. The hall door opens. MIKE and HATCH come in. HATCH sees the problem at once and reacts with a mixture of fright and relief.

  PIPPA

  Daddee!

  She starts yanking backward again, trying to free herself.

  HATCH

  Pippa! Hold still! You want to yank your ears right off your head?

  RALPHIE

  (runs to MIKE)

  Daddy! Pippa got her head stuck and Don won't stop being a monkey!

  RALPHIE leaps into his father's arms. HATCH climbs to where his daughter has been caught by the incredible girl-eating stairs and kneels by her. MOLLY looks over her back at her husband and sends a message with her eyes: "Please fix this!"

  A CUTE LITTLE BLONDE GIRL with pigtails pulls at the pocket of MIKE'S white butcher's pants.

  26

  She is wearing most of her own strawberry jam treat on the front of her shirt.

  SALLY GODSOE

  Mr. Anderson? I stopped being a monkey. As soon as she said.

  SALLY points to MOLLY. MIKE gently disengages her. SALLY, another four-year-old, promptly pops her thumb into her mouth.

  MIKE That's good, Sally. Ralphie, got to put you down now.

  He puts RALPHIE down. DON BEALS promptly pushes him.

  RALPHIE

  Ow, hey! Why'd you do that?

  DON BEALS

  For acting smart!

  It comes out "sma'aat." MIKE picks DON BEALS up and raises him to eye level. DON isn't afraid a bit, the little craphead.

  DON BEALS

  I ain't afraid of you! My dad's town manager! He pays your salary!

  He sticks out his tongue and BLOWS A RASPBERRY right in MIKE'S face. MIKE isn't the slightest put out of countenance.

  MIKE

  Pushers get pushed, Donnie Beals. You want to remember that, because it's a true fact of this sad life. Pushers get pushed.

  DON doesn't understand, but reacts to the tone. He'll get up to more dickens eventually, but he's been put in his place for the time being. MIKE puts DON down and goes to the side of the stairs.

  Behind him we see a half-open door marked WEE FOLKS. In the room beyond the door are little tables and chairs. Happy, colorful mobiles hang from the ceiling. It's the classroom of MOLLY'S day-care center.

  27

  HATCH is pushing at the top of his daughter's head. This isn't accomplishing anything, and she's consequently growing panicky again, thinking she'll be stuck forever.

  HATCH

  Honey, why did you do this?

  PIPPA

  Heidi St. Pierre dared me.

  MIKE puts his hands over HATCH'S and moves HATCH aside. HATCH looks at MIKE hopefully.

  31 INTERIOR: THE CHILDREN AT THE FOOT OF THE STAIRS.

  HEIDI ST. PIERRE, the five-year-old daughter of LINDA ST. PIERRE, is a carrottop wearing thick glasses.

  HEIDI Did not.

  PIPPA

  Did so!

  HEIDI ST. PIERRE

  Liar, liar, pants on fire!

  MOLLY

  Stop it, both of you.

  PIPPA (to MIKE)

  It was easy going out, but now I can't get back in. I think my head must be bigger on this side.

  MIKE It is ... but I'm going to make it smaller. Do you know how?

  PIPPA

  28

  (fascinated) No . . . how?

  MIKE

  I'm just going to push the smaller button. And when I do, your head will get smaller and you'll slide right back where you were. Just as easy as you slid in. Do you understand, Pippa?

  He speaks in slow, soothing tones. He's engaged in something that's almost hypnosis.

  HATCH What kind of

  MOLLY Shhh!

  MIKE Are you ready for me to push the button?

  PIPPA Yes.

  MIKE reaches up and pushes the end of her nose with the tip of his finger.

  MIKE

  Beep! There it goes! Smaller! Quick, Pippa, before it gets big again!

  PIPPA pulls her head out easily from between the posts. The kids clap and cheer. DON BEALS

  hops around like a monkey. One of the other boys, FRANK BRIGHT, hops around a little, too, then sees RALPHIE giving him a disgusted look and quits it.

  HATCH gathers his daughter in for a hug. PIPPA hugs back, but eats her bread and jam at the same time. She stopped being scared when MIKE started talking to her. MOLLY smiles at MIKE

  gratefully and puts her hand through the stairwell posts where PIPPA was stuck. MIKE takes it on his side and kisses each finger extravagantly. The

  KIDS GIGGLE. One of them, BUSTER CARVER (BUSTER, the last of MOLLY'S day-care pupils, is about five), puts his hands over his eyes.

  BUSTER

  (moaning) Finger-kissin'! Oh, no!

  29

  MOLLY laughs and pulls her hand back.

  MOLLY Thank you. Really.

  HATCH

  Yeah thanks, boss.

  MIKE

  No problem.

  PIPPA

  Dad, is my head still little? I felt it get little when Mr. Anderson said. Is it still little?

  HATCH No, honey, just the right size.

  MIKE walks to the foot of the stairs. MOLLY meets him. RALPHIE is there, too; MIKE picks him up and kisses the red mark on the bridge of the little boy's nose. MOLLY kisses MIKE'S cheek.

  MOLLY

  I'm sorry if I pulled you away at a bad time. I saw her head that way and when I couldn't get it to come out on my own, I just. . . freaked.

  MIKE It's okay. I needed a break, anyway.

  MOLLY

  Is it bad down at the store?

&nbs
p; HATCH

  Bad enough. You know how it is when there's a storm